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Scanlan: Scoring race highlights the NHL's future stars

Author of the article:

Wayne Scanlan • Ottawa Citizen

Publishing date:

October 28, 2016 • 4 minute read

Connor McDavid #97 of the Edmonton Oilers warms up before action against the Winnipeg Jets during the 2016 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic hockey game on October 23, 2016 at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg.Photo by Jason Halstead/ Getty ImagesThis feels like another one of those transition periods in the NHL.We’re slightly more than two weeks into the season and there’s plenty of time for bad things to happen to good players. But take a snapshot of the NHL leaderboard, the one that has Edmonton’s Connor McDavid, 19, leading the points race with 11. Next up, Toronto’s Auston Matthews, 19, with 10 points in six games. Matthews leads all goal scorers with six, mainly thanks to his four-goal night opening-night burst against the Ottawa Senators.Then ask yourself — are these the two names that will top the NHL scoring lists, give or take a season here or there, for the next 15 years?In the early 1980s, it was Wayne Gretzky who broke into the NHL and hijacked the Art Ross Trophy for the next decade or so. Of course, he yielded the honour to Mario Lemieux a half-dozen times, after Lemieux came into the league in the mid-1980s.Then it was Jaromir Jagr’s turn for several seasons.

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In Gretzky’s era, the gap between first and second in the scoring race was ridiculous — up to 50, 60, 75 points. That gap diminished in the years Lemieux won the Art Ross.And now the race is so tight, with so many candidates, it is impossible to predict before the season starts.Over the past 11 years, the scoring title has been won by nine different people. Only Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have won more than once. Patrick Kane was the 2015-16 winner.Two factors have led to the demise of the dominant player. 1. Coach-driven, defensive hockey. 2. Faster, stronger, fitter players who go hard for 37 seconds and get off.

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Today’s stars can barely find room to showcase their skill and threaten a goalie.Now along come these turbo-charged kids, McDavid and Matthews, one east, one west, just like the Gretzky-Lemieux days. McDavid is the best prospect to come along since Crosby in 2005. As good as he is and has been, Crosby hasn’t been able to dominate statistically in this time of league parity, and the wonder is whether the likes of McDavid and Matthews can rise above the fray to consistently win Art Ross or Rocket Richard trophies.Will they experience a windfall of hardware, or just take their turns among a galaxy of stars?

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ANDERSON ON LEAVEWith starting goaltender Craig Anderson away from the Senators for personal reasons, it will be interesting to see if Chris Driedger, called up from AHL Binghamton Thursday, gets any playing time. Anderson’s backup, Andrew Hammond, gave up five goals in his only Ottawa start this season. Driedger has been terrific in his two AHL starts, with a goals-against of 0.96 and save percentage of .961.DERICK VS. MIKAWhen the Senators dealt centre Mika Zibanejad to the New York Rangers for centre Derick Brassard last summer, it was the biggest one-for-one trade the club had made in years. Zibanejad, 23, was a sixth overall draft pick in 2011. Brassard, 29, was the sixth overall pick by Columbus in 2006.

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Considering the Senators wanted Brassard to improve in the here and now, Zibanejad is more than holding his own with the Rangers so far. In seven games, Zibanejad has two goals and five assists for seven points. He has played 17:19 on average, his plus-minus is zero and his possession numbers are positive (CF% 56.4). His faceoff numbers are strong, 55.1 per cent.Brassard has played six games, has one goal and three assists for four points with a TOI of 17:26. His plus-minus is plus 1 and CF% is 49.7. In the faceoff circle, Brassard is at 49 per cent.Brassard, further along on his earning curve, has a cap hit of $5 million and is getting $5 million for this season and the next two seasons. Zibanejad has a cap hit of $2,625,000 and is earning $3,250,000 in his final year of the contract. When that expires, he is still a restricted free agent.

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WEBER VS. P.K.If fans in Ottawa are bound to compare Brassard and Zibanejad, you know fans in Montreal will micro-analyze the swap of popular defenceman P.K. Subban from the Canadiens to Nashville for Shea Weber. Like the Ottawa-Rangers trade of centres, the Weber-Subban deal can only be assessed after a number of years.Weber, 31, is four years older than Subban, but has brought a stability and presence to the Canadiens blue line that was exactly what the club sought. In seven games, Weber has a TOI of 26:00, and has scored three goals, two of them game-winners, with nine points in total. His CF% is 46.8. He is plus 12 and in general has played like the mean “Man Mountain,” as Team Canada head coach Mike Babcock described him during the recent World Cup of Hockey.Subban, in six games, has a TOI of 24:34, two goals, five points and is minus-five. His CF% is 48.3Subban’s cap hit is larger, $9 million to $7.8M for Weber, but while Subban has five years left on his deal after 2016-17 the Weber contract has nine more years, by which time Weber will be 40.This trade will be assessed for years.wscanlan@postmedia.com @hockeyscannerView on Ottawa Citizen

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